SoylentNews

upstart writes:

Sky News Australia to face Senate inquiry after week-long YouTube suspension:

Sky News Australia will face a Senate inquiry next week after the broadcaster was suspended for seven days for posting numerous videos which violated YouTube’s Covid medical misinformation policies.

The hearing comes as former prime minister Kevin Rudd calls on the Australian media regulator to take a tougher line on the broadcasting of contentious Sky News material on subscription TV and free-to-air television in regional areas.

The Sky News Australia YouTube channel, which has 1.8m subscribers, has been issued a strike and was temporarily suspended from uploading new videos or live streams for one week. It resumed posting and livestreaming on Thursday evening.

upstart writes:

Glenfiddich uses own whisky waste to fuel trucks:

Scotch whisky maker Glenfiddich has announced that it will convert its delivery trucks to run on low-emission biogas made from waste products from its own whisky distilling process.

The company said it has installed fuelling stations at its Dufftown distillery in north-eastern Scotland which use technology developed by its parent company William Grant and Sons. It will convert its production waste and residues into an Ultra-Low Carbon Fuel (ULCF) gas that produces minimal carbon dioxide and other harmful emissions.

Glenfiddich said the transition to using fuel made from the distillery’s waste product is part of a “closed-loop” sustainability initiative. Stuart Watts, distillery director at William Grant, said traditionally Glenfiddich has sold off spent grains left over from the malting process to be used for a high-protein cattle feed.

However, through anaerobic digestion – where bacteria break down organic matter, producing biogas – the distillery can also use the liquid waste from the process to make fuel and eventually recycle all of its waste products this way.

[...] Last year, the Government announced a £10m fund to assist UK distilleries with transitions to low-carbon fuels, such as hydrogen and biomass.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Big Tech call center workers face pressure to accept home surveillance:

Colombia-based call center workers who provide outsourced customer service to some of the nation’s largest companies are being pressured to sign a contract that lets their employer install cameras in their homes to monitor work performance, an NBC News investigation has found.

Six workers based in Colombia for Teleperformance, one of the world’s largest call center companies, which counts Apple, Amazon and Uber among its clients, said that they are concerned about the new contract, first issued in March. The contract allows monitoring by AI-powered cameras in workers’ homes, voice analytics and storage of data collected from the worker’s family members, including minors. Teleperformance employs more than 380,000 workers globally, including 39,000 workers in Colombia.

“The contract allows constant monitoring of what we are doing, but also our family,” said a Bogota-based worker on the Apple account who was not authorized to speak to the news media. “I think it’s really bad. We don’t work in an office. I work in my bedroom. I don’t want to have a camera in my bedroom.”

The worker said that she signed the contract, a copy of which NBC News has reviewed, because she feared losing her job. She said that she was told by her supervisor that she would be moved off the Apple account if she refused to sign the document. She said the additional surveillance technology has not yet been installed.

upstart writes:

Major U.K. science funder to require grantees to make papers immediately free to all:

The United Kingdom currently has one of the highest rates of open-access publication in the world, with many researchers posting their research papers on websites that make them publicly available for free. But the country’s leading funding agency today announced a new policy that will push open access even further by mandating that all research it funds must be freely available for anyone to read upon publication.

The policy by the funder, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will expand on existing rules covering all research papers produced from its £8 billion in annual funding. About three-quarters of papers recently published from U.K. universities are open access, and UKRI’s current policy gives scholars two routes to comply: Pay journals for “gold” open access, which makes a paper free to read on the publisher’s website, or choose the “green” route, which allows them to deposit a near-final version of the paper on a public repository, after a waiting period of up to 1 year. Publishers have insisted that an embargo period is necessary to prevent the free papers from peeling away their subscribers.

But starting in April 2022, that yearlong delay will no longer be permitted: Researchers choosing green open access must deposit the paper immediately when it is published. And publishers won’t be able to hang on to the copyright for UKRI-funded papers: The agency will require that the research it funds—with some minor exceptions—be published with a Creative Commons Attribution license (known as CC-BY) that allows for free and liberal distribution of the work.

martyb writes:

At a time of Delta variant proliferation, partisan politics, and economic confusion it was quite refreshing to come upon this story reminding us it is not just unbridled competition out there.

Watch Two Olympians agree to share the gold in rare and heartwarming tie:

Many people consider the Olympics to be the ultimate platform for competition, and though that may be true, some of the best Olympic moments happen when athletes work together.

On Sunday, for instance, not one but two athletes from competing countries took home an Olympic gold medal after a competition resulted in a rare but heartwarming tie. How? Well, Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi — who happen to be friends on and off the track —agreed to share a gold medal in the men's high jump.

Both athletes performed successful high jumps at 2.37 meters (7 feet, 8 inches) but each missed the Olympic-record high jump of 2.39 meters (7 feet, 10 inches) three times. Rather than embarking on another tie-breaking jump-off, the two decided to be co-gold medalists.

During the deciding huddle, Barshim asked a track official if they could each have a gold medal. After learning that a tie was possible, the competitors agreed, embraced, and went on to celebrate with their fans.

Peacock's official Twitter account tweeted a clip of the special moment[*]

[...] "Talk about Olympic spirit. The Olympic spirit is to build a peaceful and better world in the Olympic sphere which requires mutual understanding with the spirit of friendship, solidarity, and fair play," a commentator can be heard saying during the clip. "And we see this explained today so beautifully as they both get to share this gold medal moment."

[*] Tweet may have been deleted (but was available at the time of story submission ).

Original Submission

upstart writes:

New device can diagnose Covid-19 from saliva samples:

Engineers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a small tabletop device that can detect SARS-CoV-2 from a saliva sample in about an hour. In a new study, they showed that the diagnostic is just as accurate as the PCR tests now used.

[...] “We demonstrated that our platform can be programmed to detect new variants that emerge, and that we could repurpose it quite quickly,” says James Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science in MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and Department of Biological Engineering. “In this study, we targeted the U.K., South African, and Brazilian variants, but you could readily adapt the diagnostic platform to address the Delta variant and other ones that are emerging.”

The new diagnostic, which relies on CRISPR technology, can be assembled for about $15, but those costs could come down significantly if the devices were produced at large scale, the researchers say.

[...] The researchers first tested their device with human saliva spiked with synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequences, and then with about 50 samples from patients who had tested positive for the virus. They found that the device was just as accurate as the gold standard PCR tests now used, which require nasal swabs and take more time and significantly more hardware and sample handling to yield results.

The device produces a fluorescent readout that can be seen with the naked eye, and the researchers also designed a smartphone app that can read the results and send them to public health departments for easier tracking.

The researchers believe their device could be produced at a cost as low as $2 to $3 per device.

Journal Reference:
Helena de Puig, Rose A. Lee, Devora Najjar, et al. Minimally instrumented SHERLOCK (miSHERLOCK) for CRISPR-based point-of-care diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abh2944)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Caltech's New Space-Based Solar Project Could Power Our Entire Planet:

Caltech has just received $100 million in funding for their Space Solar Power Project (SSPP). The project is described by Caltech as: "Collecting solar power in space and transmitting the energy wirelessly to Earth through microwaves enables terrestrial power availability unaffected by weather or time of day. Solar power could be continuously available anywhere on earth."

"This ambitious project is a transformative approach to large-scale solar energy harvesting for the Earth that overcomes this intermittency and the need for energy storage," said SSPP researcher Harry Atwater in the Caltech press release on the matter.

[...] The project is not without its limitations. Currently, the researchers are still working on ways to collect enough energy that it’s worth doing in the first place. They're also working on ways to beam that energy down to the surface in a way that doesn’t lose most of it on its way down.

"[Launch] is currently expected to be Q1 2023," co-director of the project Ali Hajimiri told TechCrunch. "It involves several demonstrators for space verification of key technologies involved in the effort, namely, wireless power transfer at distance, lightweight flexible photovoltaics and flexible deployable space structures."

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Preorders For This Electromagnetic Rifle Are Being Taken For $3,775:

The U.S. Navy may have shelved its railgun program, but that doesn't mean you can't get a similar futuristic weapon for yourself. One ambitious company is offering what it is calling "the world's first and only handheld Gauss rifle" for pre-order for the price of $3,375. The rifle is claimed to be capable of shooting a wide variety of metal projectiles using powerful magnets. Obviously, there are outstanding questions about how well the Gauss rifle works and how safe the system is, but the company's CEO tells us that military and law enforcement agencies have already expressed interest in the weapon.

The GR-1 Anvil Gauss rifle is made by Arcflash Labs, LLC, the co-founder of which, David Wirth and Jason Murray, are "Aerospace Engineers, former US Air Force officers, and experts in pulsed power supply development with 20 years of combined experience," according to its website. The company says the weapon is "capable of accelerating any ferromagnetic projectile (under 1/2″ in diameter) to 200+ fps [feet per second]" and can produce up to 100 Joules of force, or 75 foot-pounds, similar to the muzzle energy of some .22 rifles, making it the "most powerful coilgun ever sold to the public, and also (very likely) the most powerful handheld coilgun ever built."

There are some limitations such as being limited to up to 50 full-power rounds per minute (or 1.16 seconds per round) and up to 100 (50% power) rounds per minute. And it weighs 20 pounds (9 kg).

Manufacturer's video on YouTube (2m01s).

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Amid the Labor Shortage, Robots Step in to Make the French Fries:

In a White Castle just southeast of Chicago, the 100-year-old purveyor of fast food has played host for the past year to an unusual, and unusually hardworking, employee: a robotic fry cook.

Flippy, , is no gimmick, says Jamie Richardson, a White Castle vice president. It works 23 hours a day (one hour is reserved for cleaning) and has operated almost continuously for the past year, manning—or robot-ing—the fry station at White Castle No. 42 in Merrillville, Ind. An industrial robot arm sheathed in a grease-proof, white fabric sleeve, it slides along a rail attached to the ceiling, lifting and lowering each basket when ready, immune to spatters and spills. White Castle is so pleased with Flippy’s performance that, in partnership with its maker, Miso Robotics, the chain plans to roll out an improved version, Flippy 2.0, to 10 more of its restaurants across the country.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Computer hardware giant GIGABYTE hit by RansomEXX ransomware:

Taiwanese motherboard maker Gigabyte has been hit by the RansomEXX ransomware gang, who threaten to publish 112GB of stolen data unless a ransom is paid.

Gigabyte is best known for its motherboards, but also manufactures other computer components and hardware, such as graphics cards, data center servers, laptops, and monitors.

The attack occurred late Tuesday night into Wednesday and forced the company to shut down systems in Taiwan. The incident also affected multiple websites of the company, including its support site and portions of the Taiwanese website

[...] Customers have also reported issues accessing support documents or receiving updated information about RMAs, which is likely due to the ransomware attack.

According to the Chinese news site United Daily News, Gigabyte confirmed they suffered a cyberattack that affected a small number of servers.

After detecting the abnormal activity on their network, they had shut down their IT systems and notified law enforcement.

[...] While Gigabyte has not officially stated what ransomware operation performed the attack, BleepingComputer has learned it was conducted by the RansomEXX gang.

Also at Mashable.

Original Submission

TheMightyChickadee writes:

Booster stacked! Story at Techcrunch, and everywhere else.

SpaceX has achieved another major milestone in its Starship fully reusable launch system: It stacked the Starship spacecraft itself on top of a prototype of its Super Heavy booster, which itself is loaded up with a full complement of 29 Raptor rocket engines, and the Starship on top has six itself. The stacked spacecraft now represents the tallest assembled rocket ever developed in history.

This stacking, which happened at SpaceX's development site in south Texas, is a significant development because it's the first time the two elements of the full Starship system have been united as one. This is the configuration that will be used for launching the next Starship prototype on its test mission that will hopefully achieve orbit.

Taken together, the massive combined launch system reaches nearly 400 feet [122 meters] tall (around 390 feet [118 meters], to be more precise), and combined with the orbital launch stand on which it rests, the whole thing is about 475 feet [147 meters] high, which is taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza[*].

The stacking itself is impressive, but don't expect it to last: The likely next step is for the two halves of the launch system to be separated again, with both undergoing more work, analysis and testing ahead of a reassembly in preparation for the actual eventual orbital launch test.

[*] Great Pyramid of Giza on Wikipedia.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

[Ed. note: too late, but all is not lost. Here is a 10m28s YouTube video of the stacking and unstacking of "Ship 20" onto "Booster 4" as well as its return trip over Highway 4 from the launch site to the High Bay on the build site! NB: You'll probably want to fast-forward through the first minute or so.]

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Intel: Upcoming US Fab Will Be a Small City, to Cost $60 to $120 Billion

Intel has revealed some additional details about its upcoming brand-new fab complex in the U.S. Patrick Gelsinger, chief executive of Intel, said that the new fab campus will cost between $60 billion and $120 billion, will include multiple modules capable of processing wafers using Intel's advanced process technologies, and chip packaging facilities. In addition, the company aims to build it adjacent to a university to simplify the hiring of new personnel.

As part of its IDM 2.0 strategy, Intel is set to decide on the exact location of its next major semiconductor manufacturing hub in the U.S by the end of this year. The fab will include between six and eight modules that will produce chips using the company's leading-edge fabrication processes, will be able to package chips using Intel's proprietary techniques like EMIB and Foveros, and will also run a dedicated power plant, Pat Gelsinger said in an interview with the Washington Post.

Each semiconductor fabrication module will cost between $10 billion and $15 billion, so Intel's investments into the hub over the next decade could be as 'low' as $60 billion and could top $120 billion.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

The US Navy's New Solar Aircraft Will Fly For 90 Days Without Landing:

The US Navy is working on an uncrewed aircraft called Skydweller that is capable of staying in the air for 90 days without needing to land thanks to large strips of solar panels on both of its wings, a report by New Scientist explains.

The company behind the aircraft, Skydweller Aero, is a U.S.-Spanish aerospace firm developing the technology to enable the U.S. Navy to keep a constant watchful eye over the areas surrounding its ships.

In order to stay airborne for so long, the 236-foot wingspan aircraft houses 2,900 square feet (269.4188 meters) of photovoltaic cells, allowing it to generate up to 2 kilowatts of power. Skydweller Aero also plans to fit its aircraft with hydrogen fuel cells as a backup in case the solar energy harvesting plane goes through a prolonged spell of bad weather.

The Skydweller is a new iteration on the Solar Impulse 2, a crewed solar aircraft that traversed the globe in 2015 and 2016. Skydweller Aero founders John Parkes and Robert Miller purchased the intellectual property and machinery of the Swiss Solar Impulse project before setting out to make their own aircraft.

Previous coverage.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

2 out of 3 Americans say they would take a pay cut to work remotely full time:

Americans are desperate to continue working remotely well beyond the pandemic.

To work from home full-time, they’d be willing to make some serious sacrifices, according to a recent survey from insurance company Breeze. The survey included 1,000 American adults who were either employed at a job – or looking for one – that could be performed completely remotely.

Of the respondents, 65% said they’d be willing to take a 5% pay cut in order to have the option to work remotely full-time. Some remained unfazed with the prospect of an even larger pay cut, with one in seven saying they’d give up 25% of their salaries to be able to work from home forever.

The surveyed Americans also said they’d be willing to clock more time at work if they could do it from home.

Fifty-three percent of them said they’d put in an extra 10 hours every week at the office if the office was their home. Nearly half of them said they’d concede 25% of their paid time off in exchange for a full-time remote work option. One in seven said they’d give up all of their PTO for remote work.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

‘Master Faces’ That Can Bypass Over 40% Of Facial ID Authentication Systems:

Researchers from Israel have developed a neural network capable of generating ‘master’ faces – facial images that are each capable of impersonating multiple IDs. The work suggests that it’s possible to generate such ‘master keys’ for more than 40% of the population using only 9 faces synthesized by the StyleGAN Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), via three leading face recognition systems.

The paper is a collaboration between the Blavatnik School of Computer Science and the school of Electrical Engineering, both at Tel Aviv.

Testing the system, the researchers found that a single generated face could unlock 20% of all identities in the University of Massachusetts’ Labeled Faces in the Wild (LFW) open source database, a common repository used for development and testing of facial ID systems, and the benchmark database for the Israeli system.